My carpet is old and worn and thinking about replacing it with a Karastan Smartstrand carpet. Concerned about if this carpet is safe for the birds? What would be a safe removal period if any? Do not want to replace with hardwood, laminate, or tile.

Does anybody have experience/knowledge/recommendations for this brand? This carpet is advertised as pet safe which probably means dogs and cats. I have a U2, African grey, and yellow front amazon. The reputable installer I plan on using has made inquiries about this, but no definitive assurances (my take is litigation worries). Thanks.

My biggest concern would be the stain proofing. Some of the chemicals can be very harsh. If you go to the showroom and are able to get close to the large uncut reels of carpet you will be able to smell it. According to everything I just quickly read there is no reason for additional stain guard chemicals applied to the carpet. I would imagine that your installer is going to tack and not glue it down. Also what are you planning on using as a matting under it? It looks like those would need to be answered by the installer. Glues and stain proofing can be very harsh and linger in the air.

Thanks for the response. I have forwarded the concerns you addressed to the installer and am waiting for reply. The installer mentioned a hepa matting, but will post when I have more info.

If interested, below is the link to the details of the carpet I'm considering.

http://www.karastan.com/carpet/smartstrandforeverclean/default.aspx

Thank you I did see that post. I looked into the manufacturer and the methods used. Its a pretty ingenious method and will love to hear how it holds up. We are going to be doing some major remodeling and I am debating not putting in carpet but if this is indeed stain proof I will reconsider. It's also eco friendly and sustainable. Hepa matting I have not heard of before.

I have decided to get the Karastan SmartStrand Carpet with a HealthierChoice mat underneath.

http://www.healthierchoice.com/foundation.html

I did get a response from Karastan on my email. To summarize it said there have been no reported ill effects to people or pets due to the carpet. The writer also stated that she was a parrot owner and moved her parrot to a different area of the house to avoid fumes from the glue during the seaming process.

Thanks for the reassurance in helping with the selection. Will detail more after the installation.

I didn't even think about the seaming. You may find that the glue is really noxious and may want to move the bird out of the house for a day. Can you seal off an area away from the carpeted area with plastic sheeting to prevent the odors from traveling. Houston gets pretty mild winters don't you? You could probably just open the windows.

We had new tile put into the kitchen. We had to partially dismantle our RB2s' cages and move them into another part of the house far away. We isolated that room and opened windows. We turned off the AC/heat so the glue/tile air would not circulate into the rest of the house. We kept them there for almost a week afterwards just to be sure. Then we moved them back into the area and everything was OK.

The carpet was finally installed. 80% was done last Friday and the rest was completed early afternoon yesterday. During this process all the windows in the house were open and the birds were moved to a neighbor’s house. Fortunately the weather cooperated temperature and storm wise.

When the job was completed yesterday there were no strong odors only a faint smell from where heat was applied to secure carpet seams. No glue was used underneath the carpet, but the old carpet had used glue which was scraped off before the new carpet was laid.

Decided mid afternoon yesterday to bring back one of the birds. Everything was fine with him. He was a little more talkative than usual. Things looked good so the rest of the birds came back early evening.

This morning the birds are doing what they typically do. Too bad they haven’t forgotten their bad habits.

Didn’t miss Sunday bath day. Snowy the U2 really enjoys a bath. If it was left to him he’d still be in the shower.

Question to those who have greys. My grey prefers cold water over warm. If the water is cold his feathers will fluff to absorb the water, but if warm will not fluff. Does your grey react the same to water temp?

Thanks for all the support and information.

Are you talking about the bird fluffing out his feathers to let the water in? Cassie fluffs her to get the water everywhere. If the water is too cold or hot she says "hot" before she goes under it.

Yes, exactly. If I change the water temp to warmer he will unfluff his feathers and if I change to cold will fluff out his feathers to let the water in. Don't know why he likes it so cold, but he does. Within parameters Snowy the U2 doesn't care about temp just likes his showers to last as long as possible.

My grey loves the cold water too. One winter we had a blizzard and our power went off (unusual for us here in the south) and guess who jumped in his water bowl? Problem child!

One more thing about the new carpet is I had to purchase another vacuum cleaner that was recommended for Karastan carpets. The deep pile had caused my Dyson vacuum cleaner to stick to the carpet. It took all my strength and body weight to move the vacuum over the carpet. If you are getting a new carpet consider this as it was unexpected to me.

The new carpet has caused a new problem. My adopted yellow front amazon has decided this is great material to rip apart. He will not be allowed on the floor until his ways change. May take a long time if ever.

About cold water I used to have a bird bath in the back yard. Even when it was cold enough for the water to freeze the blue jays would aggressively take a bath in it. Tough birds.